Wind musical instrument



i 25, 1933- P. .1. BURKLE WIND MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed Dec. 18, 1931Patented Apr. 25, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PHILIP J. BURKLE, OFELKHART, INDIANA, ASSIG-NOR TO G. G. CONN, LTD., OF ELKHABT, INDIANA, ACORPORATION OF INDIANA WIND MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Application filedDecember 18, 1931. Serial No. 581,795.

This invention relates to musical instruments pertaining to the generalclass of cornets, trumpets and the like.

It is an object of the invention to improve I the construction of thistype of instruments by arranging certain parts thereof in relation toothers in such manner as to facilitate the holding of the instrumentwhile it is being played, and also as to facilitate the operation of thevarious valves while it is being held.

It is also an object of the invention to provide an instrument of thistype in which some of the parts, as pipes, bends are arranged in amanner to lend themselves to various ways of holding the instrument andof operating the valves, as contrasted with known instruments of thistype in which the player neces- I sarily had to hold the instrument inone way only owing to the formation and relation of the various parts.

It is also an object of the invention to provide an instrument of thistype which combines with a reduction in length attained heretofore inimproved cornets, trumpets, etc. a greatly desirable reduction in width,to facilitate the holding and playing of the instruments.

It is, furthermore, an object of the invention to provide in associationwith a portion of a tubing means for facilitating the adjustment of saidportion to other portions of the tubing, whereby the pitch or quality ofthe tone may be altered, these adjusting means being arranged on saidtubing in such man- 0 view,

Fig. 1.

The instrument illustrated belongs to that general type of brassinstruments in which the rim of the bell is towards the front and inwhich the stem merging into the bell is parallel to the part of thetubing with which the mouthpiece is connected.

The instrument, therefore, may be said to comprise a mouthpiece 1detachably mounted in a known way to a straight tubing 2 to which ismovably connected a bend 3. This bend is continued in another straighttubing 4: leading through a knuckle or short bent tube 5, to the firstvalve 6.

As in other instruments of similar character, there are shown in theembodiment illustrated three of these valves 6, 7, 8, which are seriallyconnected in a. known way by short tubings. These valves are located ina single plane, the mouthpiece and its tubing 2, 3, 1 being on one sideof said plane, and the bell and its tubing on the opposite side. Thevalve 6'being the first one to be reached by the air forced into themouthpiece is usually termed the first valve, and the others arenumbered in sequence. These valves, when used singly, lower the notesobtained two half-steps, one halfstep and three half-steps,respectively.

The third valve 8 again has its casing connected by a short knuckle 9,Fig. 2, with a straight tubing 10 forming one leg of a bend 11, theother leg 12 of which is united with the large bend 13, and thislargebend merges into the straight stem 14: that leads to the bell 15. Theknuckles 5 and 9 are disposed on different sides of the instrument, andextend, as shown in opposite directions relatively to a line connectingthe keys. the knuckle 5 being twisted towards said line, and the knuckle9 away from it.

Each of the casings for the valves 6, 7 and 8 is provided with a bentbypass of known construction, as indicated at 16, 17 and 18respectively, and these bent bypasses extend from the different valvecasings in different directions in order to render the volume of theinstrument compact and to facilitate the handling of the same. It willbe seen that the U-shaped bypass 16 of the first valve 6 extends indirection of the mouth-piece, the

U-shaped pipe 17 of the second valve extends laterally therefrom, andthe U-shaped pipe 18 of the third valve 8 again extends in a planeparallel to the plane of the pipe 16 in direction towards the bell 15.

The instrument described pertains to the so-called short models in whichthe mouthpiece is connected by one return bend to the first valve. Thisreturn bend, however, is not located closely to the valve itself. butspaced therefrom, as indicated at 3, and many prominent artists are ofthe belief that owing to this arrangement, the tone quality of theinstrument as well as the characteristic appearance are enhanced.

prior short models, therefore, it had been a tendency to enlarge thewidth of the entire instrument transversely of the longitudinal axisthereof to permit this length of tubing to be properly placed. Thepresent invention has the object of reducing this transverse widthwithout sacrificing any of the other advantages of the short model. Thewidth, furthermore, is reduced by the selection of the valves in thepresent application, the valves being of the short model type with thesprings in the bottom of the same.

In holding the instrument while it is being played, it is customary toposition the thumb against the first valve 6, for instance atapproximately the point 20 between the stem 2 of the mouthpiece and thevalve bend 16. The thumb, therefore, is at the side nearest the musicianand the remaining four fingers are grouped about the tube connectionsadjacent the third valve in the portion 21, and in order to render thishold of the instrument comfortable, it is essential that ample room heprovided adjacent the valve connections 18, and between the pipe 10extending from the third. valve 8 and the tube 14 which leads to thebell 15.

It is for this purpose that the tube 10 which extends from the stem 14of the bell is continued in the form of the peculiar gers may then beabove the connection to the third valve 8, or some of them may be belowthese connections and others above them, or again all of the fingers maybe below this connection to the third valve. Owing to the stem 10 beingcontinued into the third valve casing 8 by the peculiarly twistedknuckle 9, there is ample space left for positioning the fingers,regardless of the position of the thumb at 20 on the first valve casingor at 22 adjacent the opposite end of said first valve casing. lVhen thethumb is placed at 22 on the first valve casing and the other fingersare positioned above the connection 10. 9 to the third valve, it isconvenient to 0 let the tip of the thumb slope upward. This position ofthe thumb relatively to the first valve casing also is desirable whensome of the fingers are held below the connection to the third valve andsome above the same.

It will also be seen that the knuckle 5 which leads from the straightpipe 4 in communication with the mouthpiece 1 to the first valve 6 isbent and twisted to permit the thumb to be leaned against the casing ofthis valve 6 with the tip of the thumb sloping upward on the casing. Thegrip which the thumb thereby contains on the instru ment is greatlyimproved.

The return bend 3 extending between the straight pipes 2 and 4 incommunication with the mouthpiece contains the customary A- slide forchanging the instrument to the tonality of A. While no stop is shown forlimiting the amount of draw for this slide 3, it is obvious that anykind of stop may be used.

The invention also provides means for varying the pitch slightly byaltering the pipe connection which extends from the third valve 8 to thebell 15. This alteration of the pitch is highly sensitive and accurateand permits actuation without necessitating removal of the instrumentfrom playing position. As will be seen in Fig. 2, the straight pipes 10and 12 which form a part of the connection leading to the bell 15 andwhich are connected by the bend 11 are also connected by a short rigidstrut 24. A screw spindle is rotatably supported within the strut,

and a finger wheel 26 is mounted on the spindle so as to project fromthe transverse strut 2 1 into a position in which the knurled edge ofthis small wheel may be rotated. The

central bore of this wheel is in screw threaded connection with thespindle 25, and this spindle is fixedly attached at its end to theslidable bend 11 which connects the straight tubes 10 and 12. It isobvious, therefore,

that upon turning the wheel 26, the spindle 25 will be shiftedlongitudinally in either direction depending upon rotation of the wheel,and the bend 11 having legs slidably telescoped into the tubes 10 and 12will thereby be extended or shortened.

This tuning slide 11 is so located that there is ample room for a tip ofa finger to be inserted between the pipe 10 or 12, and the bend 18pertaining to the third valve 8. The part 12 which is directly connectedto the re duced part of the stem 14 through the fixed bend 13 is raisedabove the level of the bot tom of the valve casings, as shown in Figs. 2and 3, permitting thereby the fingers to engage the bottom ends of thevalve casings. The space required for the tuning wheel 26 makes itnecessary to raise the other connecting pipe 10 of the tuning slide 11to a level which makes it necessary to bend the knuckle 9 in apredetermined direction for entry into the third valve casing. Thisknuckle will then establish the connection with the casing at thecorrect location to register with the port in the piston of the valve.

From the above it will be recognized that in spite of the compactness ofthe structure, the manipulation of the valves is greatly facilitated,and that the instrument can readily be handled without cramping orfatiguing the fingers of the player. It will also be recognized that anyadjustment of the tuning slide can easily be accomplished within veryshort time and without any great effort on the part of the playerwithout requiring removal of the instrument from playing position.

I claim:

1. An instrument of the class described, comprising in combination witha mouthpiece, valves and a bell, a pipe connecting said mouthpiece withone of said valves, and a pipe connecting another valve with the bell, abent knuckle extending from a straight portion of said first pipedirectly into the first valve, and twisted in direction towards the topof the valve.

2. An instrument of the class described, comprising in combination witha mouthpiece, valves and a bell, a pipe connecting said mouthpiece withone of said valves, and

a pipe connecting another valve with the bell, a bentknuckle extendingfrom a straight portion of the second named pipe directly into the saidother valve, and located on the same side of said valve on which saidbell is located.

3. An instrument of the class described, comprising in combination witha mouth piece, valves and a bell, a pipe connecting said mouthpiece withone of said valves, and

a pipe connecting another valve with the bell, a bent knuckle extendingfrom a straight portion of the second named pipe directly into the saidother valve, and twisted in direction towards the bottom of said lastnamed valve.

4. An instrument of the class described, comprising in combination witha mouthpiece, valves and a bell, a pipe connecting 7 said mouthpiecewith one of said valves, and

valve.

PHILIP J. BURKLE.

